Lynn M.
Walding, Administrator |
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- NEWS |
October 19,
2007 | ||
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I. NATIONAL
NEWS
1.
SABMiller, Molson Coors Merger to Lift `Chill' Sales
2. Johnnie Walker's Goal: Quadruple
Sales
3. Why Consolidation Storm Is
Brewing in Beer Industry
5. WSWA Applauds Federal Appeals Court Decision Upholding
Maine's Right to Require Face-to-Face Transactions for Alcohol
Sales
6. A Notorious Spirit Finds Its Way Back
to Bars
7. Schools Using Breathalyzers to
Fight Teen Drinking
8. Diageo Profit Meets Forecast on Scotch, Vodka
Demand
9. Wine Industry in Midst of new Wave of
Buyouts
10. US House Failure to Override Veto Good News for Tobacco
Cost
11. National Beer Wholesalers Association Named "Great Place to
Work"
II. INTERNALTIONAL
NEWS
12. Codorniu Group of Spain, Owners of Artesa Winery Acquires A.V.
Imports and Appoints New Management
13. France: Vodka Makes Inroads in World's Biggest Scotch
Market
14. Alaska: Fairbanks Wants to Double Alcohol
Tax
III.
16. Sides Clash on 21-Only Proposal
17. Many Factors Figure into 21-and-Older Ordinance
Battle
18. Iowa's Drinking Called
Epidemic
19. Tanked-Up Drake Hurlers Face
$80 Fine for Cleanup
20. Authorities Say Alcohol May Be Involved In Hayride
Wreck
21. Henry County Health Center now Tobacco Free
22. Filippo Gets Six Years in Prison
IV. OTHER STATE
NEWS
24. Vote Slated for Sunday Liquor Sales (Alabama)
25. Few Stores Sampling Wine-Law
Prospects (Arkansas)
26. California Bolsters Distributor Protections in New Beer
Franchise Law (California)
27. Bar
Liability Bill Debated; Accident Victim Could Sue Business for Serving Alcohol
(Delaware)
28. Legislative Proposal
Would Raise Tobacco Tax (Kansas)
29. Harvard Students Keep Beer Flowing, Defying New Alcohol
Policy (Massachusetts)
30. Tobacco Sellers
Must Now be Certified (Nebraska)
31. Tough Enforcement of N.H. Liquor Laws Will Pay Off
(New Hampshire)
32. Liquor Enforcement
Shuts Down 'Party Bus' (New Hampshire)
33. Alcoholic Beverage Control in NC: ABC
System Seen as Wasteful (North Carolina)
34. Tobacco-Free Campuses Improve Health (North
Dakota)
35. Changes in Law have hurt
Oklahoma Winemakers (Oklahoma)
36. New US$2m Wine
Research Institute for Oregon (Oregon)
37. Seven
Firms Vying for Liquor Sore Deal (Pennsylvania)
38. Smoking Ban Earns Broad Support (South
Dakota)
39. Group’s Place Value on Alcohol Initiative
(Texas)
40. Chesapeake Prison Guards Plead Guilty to Smuggling Tobacco
(Virginia)
I.
NATIONAL NEWS
1.
SABMiller, Molson
Coors Merger to Lift `Chill' Sales
SABMiller
is doing more than combining with Molson Coors Brewing Co. In the
Mary Jane Credeur and
Amy Wilson
Bloomberg.com
October 16,
2007
Miller Chill, a
new brew with a touch of salt and lime, grabbed 1 percent of the
The
tie-up would give MillerCoors 30 percent of the nation's beer market, and access
to hundreds of new distributors. Miller also needs Chill to revive
Chill's
success will help lift SABMiller shares 22 percent to 1,730 pence in the next
year, says Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd. analyst Trevor Stirling.
``They
got it absolutely right with Miller Chill,''
The
MillerCoors venture will lift sales of Chill and other niche beers such as
Leinenkugel's, and boost profit because the brewers aim to save $500 million a
year on manufacturing and shipping costs by merging operations. The accord still
needs regulatory approval.
Stock
Upgrade
The
MillerCoors tie-up prompted Citigroup analyst Bonnie Herzog to upgrade Molson
Coors to ``hold'' from ``sell'' today, partly because Molson will gain ``access
to Miller's strong portfolio.''
``It's
good for both joint venture partners and the distributors because a much wider
range of products will be going out,'' said Edward Collins, who helps manage $41
billion at New Star Asset Management Group Plc in London, including SABMiller
shares. ``It's very clever.''
Miller
Lite's volume and pricing are also holding steady against Bud Light and Coors
Light, meaning Chill isn't cannibalizing core light beer drinkers. The fruity
brew may add as much as 1 percent to the
Chill
will get an additional boost from the venture, SAB executives said. ``The
combined brands of the joint venture will be an enviable strength,'' said
SABMiller Chief Executive Graham Mackay on a call with journalists Oct. 9.
Market
Share
St.
Louis-based Anheuser controls 48 percent of the
To
promote Chill, Miller spent an amount ``comparable'' to the $55 million that
Amsterdam-based Heineken NV spent to launch Heineken Premium Light last year,
said Tom Long, president of Miller's U.S. operations, in a Sept. 24 interview.
Miller
Chill is a chelada-style beer, which loosely translates to ``cold one'' in
Spanish. Chelada is typically made by mixing beer with lime and salt or spicy
tomato juice.
Years
in the Making
Miller
considered a lime-flavored light beer for a couple of years, Long said.
Brewmasters worked on the formula for several months to get the right balance of
fruit without overwhelming the beer taste, he said.
Chill was
introduced nationwide in June. More than 325,000 barrels were sold in its first
three months, a pace that may exceed the company's goal of 400,000 barrels in
the first year. The drink may surpass sales of Heineken Premium Light in the
coming year, Long said.
Sam
Tingle bought a case of Miller Chill to serve at his 40th birthday party in late
August. It was the first beer to run out.
``It was
the perfect thing to drink, real smooth and light with a good aftertaste,'' said
Tingle, a music industry marketer in
Miller's
Margins
Improving
``Miller's margins
show signs of improving,'' said Claude van Cuyck, head of equities at Cape
Town-based Sanlam Investment Management, which manages the equivalent of $50
billion. ``It's still early days in terms of Miller's recovery and the
sustainability of that recovery.''
The
London-based brewer, formed in 2002 by the $5.6 billion merger between South
African Breweries Plc and Miller Brewing Co., is the world's third-largest beer
maker behind
SABMiller
shares rose 16 pence, or 1.1 percent, to 1,429 pence in
Gains
from Chill and higher prices on Miller Lite helped the brewer narrow its price
gap with Anheuser-Busch to about 2 percent from as much as 3.5 percent last
year, Citigroup analysts led by Philip Morrisey wrote in an Aug. 27 note.
``Miller
could become regarded, against all expectation, as a top-line revival story,''
Morrisey wrote.
Not
everyone is a convert to Miller Chill. Jeff Rowe bought the drink after hearing
about it from a friend. He dumped most of the bottle down the drain.
``It
reminded me of a margarita that's all melted and watered down,'' said Rowe, 27,
a dental hygienist. ``Plus it tasted fake.''
Seasonal
Fad?
One
concern among Miller executives and analysts is how Chill will fare during
cooler months, when demand for beer typically slows, especially for those with a
Latin connotation.
``Lime
and salt is pretty seasonal,'' said Bernstein's
The
slowdown may have begun. Chill's share of the beer market was 0.5 percent as of
Sept. 23, down from August's peak of 1 percent, according to supermarket scanner
data cited by Morgan Stanley analyst Bill Pecoriello.
Miller's
Long is unfazed.
He said
he will be ``very pleased'' if Chill sales mirror other light beers: dipping in
the cold months before spiking around Memorial Day. After all,
Even Long
only opts for Chill once in a while: ``I like it as a change of pace. It's not
going to dominate my drinking portfolio,'' he said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a8N8TbC4Cb5I&refer=home
2. Johnnie Walker's Goal: Quadruple
Sales
Ambitious
Plan Comes as Brand Continuous to in Spite of Struggling Brown-spirits
Market
Jeremy Mullman
Ad
Age
October 15, 2007
Johnnie
Walker is breaking into a sprint.
Spirits giant Diageo told
wholesalers at a recent meeting it plans to quadruple sales of its signature
Scotch whisky within the next three years. Should Diageo pull that off, Johnnie
Walker -- already the world's largest Scotch brand -- would become one of the
largest premium-spirits offerings in the world. It would beat Absolut vodka by
about 1 million cases annually and trounce rumrunner Captain Morgan by about
400,000 cases.
Diageo is likely to continue to ramp
up media spending on Johnnie Walker, which rose about 20% to $12.6 million
during 2006, including the brand's first TV push, a $2 million outlay on cable,
according to TNS Media Intelligence.
That blueprint is ambitious to say
the least (one beverage-marketing consultant questioned whether Diageo could
make enough whiskey to hit that goal even if it managed to sufficiently raise
customer demand). And it would be reliant on a marketing surge in markets
outside the
Outsize
growth
Sales of Johnnie Walker, including
its flagship Red Label and Black Label, as well as pricier versions such as the
hyperpremium Blue Label blend, rose 9.5% last year compared with 2% growth for
the category, according to spirits trade magazine Impact. That's an acceleration
from the 5% annual clip at which it's grown since 2000, compared with 1.4%
growth for all Scotch in that period.
Of course, a quadrupling of sales in
three years would require much larger annual increases, and, through a
spokeswoman, Diageo said it wasn't prepared to offer any insight into how it
intends to manage that.
Veteran spirits-marketing
consultants, however, said such growth would be possible only with a huge
marketing surge in relatively untapped, huge-upside markets such as
"They're going to have to flood the
Chinese market and flood the Indian market if they want to get anywhere close to
that," said veteran beverage marketing consultant Brian Sudano. He said he's
curious about the supply. "There's not exactly a
Absolute
success
Arthur Shapiro, a former Seagram
executive who has consulted on a number of major spirits brands, was a little
more optimistic. "Years ago I consulted with Absolut in
Diageo executives have said in
recent interviews on other topics that they do see signs of a Scotch resurgence
in the
They're likely to continue to ramp
up media spending, which rose about 20% to $12.6 million during 2006, including
the brand's first TV push, a $2 million outlay on cable, according to TNS Media
Intelligence. The brand has been riding the same multimedia "Keep Walking"
campaign since 1999. Its agencies are Bartle Bogle Hegarty and AQKA.
Experts, however, attribute much of
Johnnie Walker's success to clever tactics that aren't measured, such as a new
engraved-bottle program designed to encourage gifting; the luxurious silk-lined
boxes that hold rarified, serial-numbered bottles of Blue Label; and one of the
more innovative online loyalty programs in the category.
"They've cracked the code on
franchise identity," said Mr. Shapiro. "That [quadrupling] goal is a bit
audacious, but they are very well-positioned right now."
http://adage.com/article?article_id=121126
3.
Why Consolidation Storm Is Brewing
in Beer Industry
The
world's beer giants are showing a growing thirst for consolidation as they try
to gain leverage with suppliers, distributors and retailers amid slowing sales
in the
Wall Street
Journal
October 18,
2007
A week after two of
The companies said they plan to
divide up the assets of S&N, which has a market value of $14.5 billion. The
The announcement followed news that
The maneuvers, coming about 2½ years
after the most recent wave of beer-industry consolidation, are a reaction to
shifts in beer-drinking habits across the globe. In Western Europe and the
In many emerging economies, however,
including Eastern Europe and
In the world's mature beer markets,
brewers seeking to consolidate hope to use their increased market share to
negotiate better deals for everything from commodities to advertising that could
bolster profits. That's part of what Miller and Coors plan to do in the
It's also a key objective of
Netherlands-based Heineken in the
"Consolidation in terms of
operational benefits, synergies, is essentially a local thing," Mr. van Boxmeer
said. S&N's marketing and distribution clout in the
Carlsberg, of Denmark, and Heineken
said they may make an offer, likely in cash, for Scottish & Newcastle, which
makes Newcastle Brown Ale, its best-known brand in the U.S, as well as John
Smith's and Kronenbourg 1664.
Under the planned deal, Carlsberg,
the world's fifth-largest beer maker by volume, or quantity of beer sold, would
acquire full control of a joint venture it owns equally with S&N in
Heineken, the world's fourth-largest
brewer by volume, would take over S&N's
Heineken also would increase its
share of the
The Heineken brand is the
second-largest imported beer in the
Heineken and Carlsberg left in
question how other joint ventures would be carved up, including businesses in
fast-growing regions such as
The brewers haven't approached
Scottish & Newcastle. A person close to the matter said the consortium aims
to negotiate a friendly deal. But Scottish & Newcastle said it "is confident
in its future as an independent group" and "strongly urges shareholders to take
no action," a sign that it fears the consortium may try to buy shares in the
market.
The move marks the latest example of
a breakup proposal from corporate buyers who group together to acquire
businesses that, for a variety of reasons, couldn't be snapped up by just one
bidder.
A group of three European banks this
month clinched a record $101 billion takeover of Dutch lender ABN Amro Holding
NV; the sprawling operations will be sliced apart and divided among the buyers.
Consortium bids have been increasing in recent years because despite the
difficulty of assembling groups of competitors and getting them to agree on
value and strategy, together they can pay a higher price and often overcome
obstacles such as antitrust concerns that no single buyer could surmount.
Shares of S&N surged 19% to
£7.56, or $15.36. Because rumors of a bid for the company have been around so
long, the consortium considers the price on March 19 of £5.31 to be the best
reflection of where the shares traded before the rumors began, according to a
person familiar with the matter.
Because Carlsberg is already a
joint-venture partner with S&N, it could be difficult to assemble a rival
group to make a counterbid. The venture has a clause that allows one side to buy
back the other's stake.
One potential buyer is SABMiller,
but the company earlier indicated it wouldn't be interested in S&N, at least
not as a solo bidder. SABMiller Chief Financial Officer Malcolm Wyman said in
April the Western European beer market is "singularly unattractive." SABMiller
is the world's second-largest beer maker by volume after
Another possible suitor for S&N
is Anheuser-Busch, the world's third-largest brewer by volume. The St.
Louis-based beer maker is heavily dependent on the
4. Liquor Industry Cries Foul
Mike
Gallagher
October 14,
2007
A noted
liquor lobbyist once made an ill-advised comment that has become part of
"I own this Legislature," Frank "Pancho" Padilla yelled
at then-State Sen. Fabian Chavez in 1963 during an argument over liquor law
reform, according to news accounts at the time.
Many dismiss the outburst as
groundless political grandstanding and Padilla was banned from the Legislature—
although he denied saying it.
But the industry has turned to the Legislature
for help in the past and is once again asking lawmakers to step in as it chafes
under what it says is an unfair, get-tough approach by state
regulators.
Superintendent Edward Lopez,
whose Regulation and Licensing Department oversees the Alcohol and Gaming
Division, has undeniably raised some hackles.
The man charged with
implementing Gov. Bill Richardson's orders to toughen enforcement of rules
against serving underage and intoxicated patrons, Lopez has flagged several
liquor-related issues of concern.
Topping his list:
Continuing migration of liquor
licenses from rural areas to urban and resort destinations without considering
impact on neighborhoods and whether they add to DWI
problems.
Liquor license prices that have
climbed to more than $300,000— which Lopez says is tough on small business
people and could open the door to organized crime interests.
The industry
says it has legitimate concerns of its own.
It is critical of new state
enforcement rules. It also accuses the state of dragging its feet in approving
license transfers and says the state is taking way too long to issue new beer
and wine licenses to restaurants.
"It has been taking nine months, and we've
had restaurants open and close in that time while waiting for their license,"
said Carol Wight, head of the New Mexico Restaurant Association.
The industry
has also complained that the state's new "three strikes" rule allowing
revocation of a very valuable liquor license after three citations is unfair and
that enforcement is uneven and arbitrary.
They have heartburn with the rules
themselves, arguing the penalties are too severe in cases when it is almost
impossible to tell if a patron who walks in the door and orders a drink is
intoxicated.
In some cases, agents have followed a patron from another
establishment or bullied people leaving bars into taking a breath alcohol
test.
"We're working our butts off to abide by the regulations, but one or
two slip-ups and I can lose a liquor license," said Connie Nellos, a restaurant
and bar operator in
They're arresting 22-year-old
kids (employees) who make a mistake when they check an ID. They get taken to
jail in handcuffs."
'Right now, it's a
maze'
Lopez, a former General Services secretary who
moved to his new post in 2005, said he wanted the public and legislators to
focus on problems in the liquor industry.
"If you wanted to design a more
dysfunctional set of laws that we have governing the liquor industry, I don't
think you could if you tried," Lopez said in an interview. "We really need to
look at the laws. Right now, it's a maze."
He's got the Legislature's
attention. And so does the industry.
The Legislative Revenue Stabilization
and Tax Policy Committee plans a daylong hearing on liquor regulation this week.
The session follows one in
Legislators have been receiving complaints from around the
state.
Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, said legislators want to make sure
enforcement isn't just targeting small neighborhood bars and package stores but
also includes chain restaurants and convenience stores.
"We want to make sure
they aren't profiling in their enforcement efforts," he said.
Last month,
multiple workers in bars, package stores and restaurants were arrested and the
owners cited in one undercover operation.
Regulations approved last October
allow for revocation of a liquor license that has convictions on three liquor
violations in a 12-month period. Rules used to allow five violations.
Smith
said complaints increased after the change.
Both Smith and Lopez also want to
examine the roles of unlicensed and unregulated brokers in the sale and transfer
of liquor licenses.
"The entire liquor issue has been flying under the radar
for too many years. I just think there are enough concerns that we need to get
on the radar," Smith said.
Lopez said the industry is applying
pressure.
There's a lot of political heat, complaints to the Legislature and
the Fourth Floor (a reference to
"I know
from my own family how integrated the liquor industry is in politics at the
local level. They are part of local campaigns and elections. I saw it growing up
in my father's campaigns," said Lopez, whose father was a powerful state senator
from
Smith acknowledged that liquor legislation is
difficult.
Trying to do anything about liquor in the Legislature is tough,"
he said. "It is a tough industry to work through."
Quota
problems
As head of Regulation and Licensing, Lopez is
in charge of a mixture of regulatory agencies and commissions. None has a higher
profile than Alcohol and Gaming.
What he found surprised him.
For
starters, he learned the state's quota system, which attempted to limit the
number of licenses in cities based on population, had been gutted in
1997.
The population-based quota system allocated one full service license—
meaning liquor by the drink or package— for every 2,000 people. Restaurant beer
and wine licenses aren't counted against the quota.
But places like
In large part that's because in 1997
the Legislature allowed up to 10 licenses a year to be move into each
municipality from other parts of the state without regard to the quota.
As
part of compromise to close drive-up package liquor sales in 1998, the
Legislature allowed almost 300 licenses to move anywhere. Many moved to urban
areas where chain restaurants, convenience stores and mega-marts were paying top
dollar.
Lopez said he was hoping to use the quota system to slow the
migration of liquor licenses from rural to urban and resort areas while he
assessed the impact of liquor license density on drunken driving accidents and
fatalities.
"My charge when I was appointed by the governor was to do
something about the DWI problem from the supply side," Lopez said. "I want to
make health and safety concerns, for instance the impact on DWI accidents in an
area, one of the main considerations for deciding whether a license should be
able to move to a location."
He said those decisions would be based on the
best scientific data and expert testimony he can get, and he wants lawmakers to
give him more authority to do it.
Recent court rulings have limited the
state's say in approving the location of transfers, something Lopez wants the
Legislature to look at.
Nellos said tough laws and regulations haven't solved
the problem of drunken driving.
"The general public is being held hostage by
this," he said. "Customers are afraid to have a single beer with dinner and
drive."
Price of
licenses
The cost of some liquor licenses has raised
eyebrows in
According to department records, two
licenses in
"The
price of liquor licenses was growing steadily," Lopez said. "When we see a
license sale for $600,000, I believe the day of a $1 million liquor license
can't be far off."
Lopez's concern is twofold: concentration of licenses in
the hands of national companies, driving out local small businesses, and
potential involvement of organized crime.
The organized crime issue is
dismissed by many, but federal prosecutors have found that organizations
smuggling narcotics and marijuana have bought liquor licenses to help launder
cash.
One
"Who can afford
a license is becoming an issue," Lopez said.
Ray Shollenbarger has been
involved in liquor license sales since he headed the state liquor division in
the 1980s.
He says price is driven by demand, availability of certain types
of licenses and whether the license can move from one town to
another.
Whether an operating business is being sold with a license or a
building can also impact the price.
"National chain restaurants don't want a
package license. They want to sell by the drink," he said. "The big grocery
chains and convenience stores sell package, so they want licenses that allow
them to sell package."
Shollenbarger said the national chains pay cash.
They aren't interested in the owner's business or other property in most
cases.
If a license that allows the sale of package liquor isn't on the
market, liquor license brokers will try to find one.
To get the right license
to the right buyer sometimes involves two or more licenses changing hands
because of the intricacies of state statutes, which can involve a license moving
from one town to another.
As the result of one earlier liquor law reform, a
group of about 80 retail package liquor licenses can be transferred anywhere in
the state. Shollenbarger said these licenses seldom come on the market and when
they do they command a premium.
"Right now, you can't touch a license, any
license, for under $250,000," Shollenbarger said.
Defense
of efforts
Lopez said he believes his willingness to
listen to neighborhoods and groups concerned with the drunken driving problem
has caused him trouble with the liquor industry.
"I'm not a
neo-prohibitionist," Lopez said. "But I'm not going to close my eyes to the
problems the state has with alcohol consumption."
Industry criticisms of
Lopez's administration cover a wide range of issues from increasing the
bureaucracy in license approvals, and drawing a hard line on enforcement.
The
Restaurant Association's Wight said she has been working with Lopez to clear a
backlog of 108 beer and wine applications.
"We've been working with the
superintendent, but we're getting ready to explode."
"These businesses are
important for economic development," she said. "The restaurant industry pays
more than $200 million a year in gross receipts taxes."
Shollenbarger said
approvals for sales of by-the-drink and package licenses can take as long. "I
tell people it will take a minimum of six months and as long as nine months," he
said.
Lopez said the number of beer and wine applications doubled this year,
but the number of hearing officers remained the same at three.
"I've put all
three hearing officers on clearing the restaurant license backlog," Lopez said.
"We're working with the restaurants to streamline the process, but we didn't
have the people to meet the increase in demand."
License
to serve
These are cities with the
highest number
of licenses over their quotas and some
unincorporated areas of counties that
have fewer licenses than their quotas would allow.
Licenses Over
Quota
Española
19
Unincorporated Areas, Licences Under Quota
Doña Ana 18
McKinley
12
Bernalillo 7
Quota
numbers
It's an illustration of
the oft-quoted observation of territorial Gov. Lew Wallace that "every
calculation based on experience elsewhere fails in
But Alcohol and Gaming chief Edward Lopez
says the Economic Development Department doesn't compile those numbers and
hasn't since 1996. Hence, those are the numbers used.
The quotas basically
don't apply anyway in most cases. The only time the department considers quotas
is when an area goes below the quota.
http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/602320nm10-14-07.htm
5. WSWA Applauds
Federal
Washington,
D.C. (October 12, 2007)-The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA)
today applauded the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit to
uphold Maine's right to require face-to-face transactions for alcohol sales.
WSWA
October 12,
2007
"Yesterday's decision affirmed an
earlier ruling by the federal district court that upheld the state's right to
regulate alcohol and rejected a challenge from wineries to allow sales of wine
outside the state's current regulatory system," WSWA President and CEO Craig
Wolf said. "
The decision upholds
Plaintiffs, represented by Professor
Alex Tanford, argued that the face-to-face requirement had a discriminatory
effect that gave in-state wineries preferential access to consumers, while
causing out-of-state wineries to incur additional cost for the same consumer
access.
The 1st Circuit, however, ruled that
WSWA, joined by the National Beer
Wholesalers Association, the American Beverage Licensees and the Presidents'
Forum of the Beverage Alcohol Industry, filed an amicus brief with the 1st
Circuit supporting
"
http://www.wswa.org/public/media/news.html
6.
A Notorious Spirit Finds Its Way
Back to Bars
October 16, 2007
Absinthe, an intense alcoholic
spirit favored by such artists as Degas, Van Gogh and Hemingway, is making a
comeback in the
Its rebirth in trendy restaurants
and bars is a triumph of marketing -- and of maneuvering through a maze of
federal rules on formulas and labels. It took a Swiss distiller, an importer and
a
"This is a complex issue, and we are
addressing it as best we can," said Art Resnick, a spokesman for the Treasury
Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, referring to the process
that led this year to the agency approving four absinthe brands for sale in the
United States.
For much of the 19th and early 20th
centuries, the liquor, also known as the "green fairy," was wildly popular among
artists in
Absinthe was believed to contain
large concentrations of wormwood, a plant containing the chemical thujone, which
could induce hallucinations and a druglike state. It was thought by many to be
the source of Vincent Van Gogh's impulse to cut off his ear.
Imports of absinthe were banned by
the Department of Agriculture in 1912 because other countries had outlawed it.
Later, a Food and Drug Administration rule demanding "thujone-free" products
kept it off the market.
The whiff of illegality made
absinthe all the more desirable. Groups like the Wormwood Society kept the
mystique alive. It was bootlegged, sold widely over the Internet and smuggled
into the country by travelers.
Once bans on the liquor were lifted
in Europe in the 1990s, the campaign began in the
The stakes were high for brand
owners and importers. The winner would have a head start on marketing the drink,
which costs $50 to $60 a bottle and is often imbibed after a ritualistic
ceremony.
In one method, the liquid is poured
into a special glass, over which is placed an ornate slotted spoon holding a
sugar cube. Cold water is then dripped over the sugar to dilute the drink, which
is high in alcohol. This transforms the color to milky white. In another, sugar
on the spoon is set aflame and dripped into the absinthe.
Robert Lehrman, a
Lehrman, representing an importer
and Distillerie Kubler & Wyss of
It took a meeting in February
between regulators and the trade counselor from the Swiss Embassy-- to explain
that his country had dropped objections to absinthe in 2004 -- to restart the
process.
Hurdles remained. When Kubler
proposed listing 33.8 fluid ounces on its proposed bottle label, regulators
rejected it, saying the proper designation was 33.82 ounces. In May, Kubler was
told to "remove the 'boldness' of the text on back label puffery and use the
same size print for all text shown," according to one
directive.
Approval for Swiss Absinthe
Superieure Kubler, 106 proof, was granted on May 17. Kubler's success was
diluted when a competitor, Lucid Absinthe Superieure, 124 proof, was in the
stores the same month, after being approved in March.
Jared Gurfein attracted publicity
for his Lucid brand when he abandoned a law career to start Viridian Spirits in
"We pushed the door down, and they
walked through it," Lehrman said, expressing frustration with the red tape he
faced.
"In this instance, there was more
than one reason to take a look at these labels," said Resnick of the Tax and
Trade Bureau. The office approved 125,000 labels for beer, wine and spirits last
year. He wouldn't elaborate on what those reasons
were.
A Web site for the Drug Enforcement
Administration 's Office of Diversion Control still lists absinthe under "drugs
and chemicals of concern." And the U.S. Customs Web site continues to list it as
banned. A Customs spokeswoman said that while individual shipments are being
approved for import, the agency is waiting for direction from the Tax and Trade
Bureau.
In the meantime, the marketers have
taken over.
"This is so easy," said Lyons Brown,
chief executive of Altamar Brands in Corona del Mar,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/15/AR2007101501470_pf.html
7.
Schools Using Breathalyzers to
Fight Teen Drinking
High
schools are rushing to test students for alcohol at extracurricular events like
dances and football games.
October 16, 2007
"It's increased dramatically," says
Bill Judge, an
High school orders for breathalyzers
have risen 120% in each of the past four years, says Keith Nothacker, president
of KHN Solutions, which sells the machines.
"We get a lot of orders from
principals before proms," says Charles Lee of AK Solutions USA, a
Increased sales come as lawmakers
and educators are cracking down on youth drinking with hotlines, awareness
classes, tougher penalties for adults who give teens alcohol and more college
classes on Fridays to reduce "Thirsty Thursday"
partying.
The office of the
Last month, the University of
Wisconsin-Madison began a "show and blow" policy at football games. Any student
ejected from a previous game for drinking must take a test to attend. "We're
trying to change the culture," says Ervin Cox, assistant dean of
students.
Some high schools test every student
at extracurricular events, but others test randomly or only if they suspect
drinking. If a student fails, some call parents or police, and some suspend the
student.
High schools use breathalyzers
because the technology has improved, says Larrie Reynolds, superintendent of
Many school machines are the size of
cellphones and cost $80 to $200. Tests take seconds.
Schools might violate rights if they
test without "reasonable suspicion," says Ben Stone of the American Civil
Liberties Union of Iowa. He says schools "increasingly dismiss"those
rights.
Students at
Some students say testing violates
their rights and means the school doesn't trust them, says Dan Frascella, 17,
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-10-15-Breathalyzer_N.htm
8. Diageo Profit Meets Forecast on Scotch, Vodka
Demand
Diageo
Plc, the world's biggest liquor maker, said profit is meeting its forecast this
fiscal year on higher sales of Johnnie Walker whiskey and Smirnoff vodka in the
Amy Wilson
Bloomberg.com
October 16, 2007
Sales gained 5 percent excluding
currency movements and acquisitions in the three months through September, the
Diageo kept its forecast for annual
operating profit to climb 9 percent, beating the prior year's 8.7 percent
increase. Stronger sales of higher-priced spirits in the
``People may have been expecting
something a bit more optimistic,'' said Ben Maitland, an analyst at WestLB in
In the prior fiscal year, Diageo
raised its profit forecast and then beat the target. The current projection
includes the effect of lower sales growth in
Bailey's Liqueur
Diageo shares fell 16 pence, or 1.5
percent, to 1,083 pence at 12:52 p.m. in
Net sales in the
Nigerian sales of Guinness overtook
revenue in the stout's native
Guinness sales in
Exchange-rate movements will trim
earnings by 75 million pounds this fiscal year, the company said in August, more
than the 40 million pounds it had previously forecast. Interest costs will be
reduced by less than 5 million pounds, Diageo said. Currency shifts reduced
operating profit by 90 million pounds and cut interest charges by 10 million
pounds last year.
Diageo faces higher costs this year
for barley, malt, glass and the aluminum used in cans, Chief Financial Officer
Nick Rose has said, adding that the price increases were included in the
company's profit forecast.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aJQW2rTscBQY
9. Wine Industry in Midst of new Wave of
Buyouts
The
wine business is experiencing a new wave of acquisition activity that some argue
could be the largest in two decades.
Jeff
Quackenbush
October 15,
2007
In recent months more than a
half-billion dollars worth of acquisitions of North Coast stalwarts Duckhorn
Wine Co. and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, plus William Hill Estate and Canyon Road,
have brought out other sellers to test the market and highlighted new kinds of
buyers, according to industry investment consultants and
financiers.
"The level of activity in the
M&A market for wineries is more than I've ever seen before," said George
Coope, a principal with Demeter Group, a San Francisco-based investment bank
focused on boutique food-and-beverage companies.
His 4-year-old firm currently is
representing three small and large wine businesses for sale, two on the
The swelling number of wine brands
or assets for sale could simply be the result of thousands of new labels
reaching the market in the past 10 years and new winemaking operations opening,
suggested Sean Maher of St. Helena-based Maher Advisors.
More than 7,000 wine brands are sold
in the
Still, the Duckhorn deal, announced
at the end of July, could be at the leading edge of increased investment in the
wine industry by private-equity firms and other forms of alternative funding,
Mr. Coope said.
In a deal estimated to be worth $250
million, GI Partners, which has offices in Menlo Park, took a controlling stake
in Duckhorn, which produces the Duckhorn Vineyards and Paraduxx brands in Napa
Valley and the Goldeneye pinot noir label in Mendocino County's Anderson
Valley.
Until the Duckhorn deal, financing
by major private equity players was rare.
"One of the classic problems of the
wine industry is that it is a small industry when you compare it to the S&P
500," Mr. Coope said. "Few companies are big enough to be public, and those that
are are diversified wine and spirits companies."
So the industry has not had as much
access to equity capital or diverse funding sources, especially when the
agricultural base of the business and limited options for public-market exit are
considered, he added.
Other options for
financing
That is changing with sources such
as Calpers-backed Premier Pacific Vineyards in
Troubles in the subprime and
private-equity markets haven't significantly impacted capital available to
good-credit wineries and growers. But greater trepidation in the capital markets
plus two highly publicized wine company bankruptcies have led to greater
scrutiny of acquisition financing, according to Mr.
Coope.
One of those bankruptcies was Legacy
Estates, whose key assets were the Freemark Abbey and Arrowood wineries on the
The other is 360 Global Wine Co.,
which filed for Chapter 11 reorganization early this year with nearly $60
million in creditor claims, mostly from three hedge funds tapped to acquire the
Viansa winery and tasting room in Sonoma and guarantee half of $20 million to
establish Kirkland Ranch Winery near Napa.
360 Global filed its reorganization
plan on Oct. 3 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
Despite recent sales to
private-equity firms and transitions from family ownership, families continue to
dominate the list of top
He noted that about 70 percent of
the 250 million cases of wine sold by the top 30 wine companies are controlled
by families, including the family-run yet publicly traded global wine and
spirits giant Constellation Brands.
"The point is that family names add
an authenticity factor, whether it is real or not," Mr. Freed
said.
http://www.busjrnl.com/article/20071015/BUSINESSJOURNAL/71014032/1207/BUSINESSJOURNAL02
10.
The
October 18,
2007
The bill would have increased
federal tobacco excise taxes the equivalent of 61 cents per pack of
cigarettes.
Companies that would have been
affected include R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., a wholly owned operating subsidiary
of Reynolds American Inc. (RAI); Philip Morris USA, a subsidiary of Altria Group
(MO); and Carolina Group (CG), which is a unit of Loews Corp.
(LTR).
The $35 billion raised by the
tobacco tax increase over five years would have offset the cost of expanding the
State Children's Health Insurance Program. The bill's supporters said that by
2012, the expansion would have allowed the program to cover nearly 10 million
children.
Bush vetoed the bill on Oct. 3,
arguing that it would encourage families to drop private insurance. He has
offered $5 billion that would temporarily increase the number of children
enrolled in the program, but would reduce enrollment over the next five
years.
The House's 273-to-156 vote Thursday
fell 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a presidential
veto.
J.P. Morgan's Erik Bloomquist had
anticipated a 5% to 6% decline in the volume of tobacco product salesfrom
passage of the tax, which would have increased retail product prices
approximately 15% on average, according to analysis released Oct.
3.
In that analysis, Bloomquist said
J.P. Morgan now believes the risk of passage has shifted into 2008, with
implementation in 2009 possible, but likely at a lower
rate.
The analysis was based in part on
House Republican Whip Roy Blunt's correct assessment that House wouldn't
override Bush's veto.
Democratic leaders have promised to
continue pressing for the bill and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.,
has said there will be no further compromise of the bill's
contents.
Congressional Republicans, however,
are trying to use political pressure to force Democrats to negotiate. A leading
GOP proposal would increase spending on the Schip program by $15 billion, but
included no tobacco tax hike.
Bonnie Herzog, analyst at Citigroup
Global Markets, had predicted that an override would be difficult, but not
impossible.
Still, Herzog wrote in an Oct. 3
analysis, "the President's veto...could force Congress to draft another bill,
which calls for less funding for children, and therefore could call for a less
stringent (tobacco tax) increase on cigarettes."
Congressional Republicans have
insisted that the bill be changed to focus benefits on lower-income children and
to exclude coverage for adults.
Given that the bill already takes
steps to encourage states to move adults off Schip rolls and provides about 90%
of its benefits to families earning under 250% of poverty levels, such changes
might not lower the bill's costs substantially.
For example, House Minority Whip Roy
Blunt, R-Mo., asked Thursday after the vote whether Democrats would consider
prohibiting families earning more than $ 83,000 from enrolling in the
program.
Democrast say the bill as currently
written doesn't benefit such families, but some say they would be willing to
revise the bill to address the concern.
"That is one of the things we would
be looking at to find resolution," said House Democratic Whip James Clyburne,
D-S.C.
"So long as we can maintain the
intentions to cover 10 million children, everything is under discussion,"
Clyburn said.
"That would be a significant step,"
Blunt responded.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200710181442DOWJONESDJONLINE000993_FORTUNE5.htm
11.
National Beer Wholesalers
Association Named "
Association
Recognized for Great Work Environment and
Benefits
NBWA
October 18,
2007
The National Beer Wholesalers
Association (NBWA), which represents the interests of more than 2,750 beer
distributors across the country, is proud to be selected a "
"We are honored to be named by The
Washingtonian as one of the great places to work in the
NBWA employees have worked at the
Association for as long as 17 years or as short as a few months. Women make up a
majority of employees and more than half of the senior
staff.
"We work hard, but we also play
hard. We also truly believe in the great work our distributor members do across
the country every day," Purser said.
II.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
October 15, 2007
The Codorníu Group, one of the
world's leading sparkling and still wine producers, and owners of Napa Valley's
Artesa Winery, announced its recent acquisition of A.V. Imports, Inc., a 20
year-old Washington, DC/Baltimore-based importer of fine wine and spirits, as
part of an aggressive plan to solidify Codorníu's commitment to the US market
and reinforce its position as a major wine and spirits industry player both here
and abroad.
The purchase price of A.V. Imports,
Inc. is for an undisclosed amount, but estimated to be a multi-million dollar
deal. With its acquisition by Codorn?u, effective October 11, 2007, the company
will be renamed A.V. Brands; 32-year industry veteran Mike Kenton will be
appointed CEO of Codorniu's US Operations (based in Napa). For the past 11 years
Kenton has been President of Artesa Winery. In February 2006, he was promoted to
the position of Chief Commercial Director in charge of global sales and
marketing operations for the parent company in
Assuming the role of President of AV
Brands is Roy Danis. Danis will be responsible for day to day operations,
reporting to Kenton. Danis has 29 years of sales and marketing experience in the
beverage industry. During his tenure as Executive Vice President of Sales and
Marketing for W.J. Deutsch & Sons, Ltd. (family wine importer based in New
York), company sales increased from one million cases to over 10 million cases
today. At the same time, the sales group grew from 12 people to the current team
of over 100 and its marketing staff increased as well. While at Deutsch, Danis
was intimately involved with the Yellow Tail brand, one of the most successful
wine brands to appear on the
Explaining Codorn?u's strategy,
Kenton stated, "Importing and marketing the great producers in the AV Brands'
portfolio allows us to provide added value and profit for our current
distribution network partners. The acquisition of A.V. Imports gives Codorn?u a
major strategic platform in the
A milestone for the Codorn?u Group
in the
A.V. Imports, formerly owned by
founding partners Ron Wollman and Albert Pecora, ranks among the top 20
importers in the
In addition to A.V. Brands, the
Codorníu Group owns eleven still and sparkling wineries in some of the world's
most prestigious regions such as Rioja and Priorat (
13.
The
music is pumping and the lights are low, but something strange is happening in
the bar of R, a trendy rooftop club in Paris: in the world's biggest Scotch
whisky market the young drinkers are turning to
vodka.
Nick
Antonovics
Today
Reuters
October 16,
2007
While
national statistics show Scotch is still
"Overall it's 50/50 (whisky/vodka)
but with young people it's much more vodka," said Guillaume, 23, the barman at
R. Female drinkers, especially, prefer white spirits, he
said.
Whisky sales still dwarf those of
vodka by 10 to 1 in
According to market research group
ACNielsen, the French vodka market is now worth more than 121 million
euros.
"It's certain that we sell more
vodka than whisky," said Guillaume Le Blan, a barman at Alcazar, a restaurant
and bar in the heart of
WHISKY
MAKERS NOT WORRIED
The Scotch Whisky Association is not
worried, yet. Spokesman David Williamson said the French market continued to be
strong, growing nearly 10 percent in 2006 to 170 million bottles, meaning it
remained the biggest market by volume in the world.
"Scotch sells more in one month (in
Big Scotch producers -- like
LVMH -- through its Moet Hennessy
joint venture with
Pernod Ricard has made no secret of
its desire to buy Absolut vodka, a top-5 brand in
The French group is also in talks
with Russia's government to acquire full rights to Stolichnaya vodka, which it
currently sells outside Russia under a deal due to expire in
2010.
Stolichnaya sales in
NEW
ENTRANTS
While the French market is currently
dominated by western groups -- the leading brand is "Eristoff," a vodka made in
Russian Standard, a leading Russian
brand, launched this month in a blaze of publicity with the aim of becoming
number one "as quickly as possible," said founder Roustam
Tariko.
"Vodka is the hottest brand
worldwide now," he said. "So it's very easy to outsell Scotch. In some markets
(Scotch) is a declining category, in some markets it's just not
growing."
A recently created professional
organisation, "Le Monde des Vodkas Russe," backed by Russian manufacturer Kin,
has just opened an office in Paris with the aim of encouraging demand for
"Authentic Russian Vodka," a quality label it is
promoting.
Olivier Balva, a director with
French wines and spirits group Belvedere (BEVD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research),
which said its Polish-made vodka Sobieski has captured more than 5 percent of
the French market in less than a year, agreed the trend was
clear.
"Vodka in France, like everywhere
else in the world, is the most dynamic part of the market ... The trend is
towards white spirits and away from brown ones," Balva
said.
But Pernod Ricard Chairman Patrick
Ricard predicted Scotch would remain king for a long
time.
"Certainly vodka's growth is
remarkable, but from a low base. If it happens, it won't be tomorrow," he said.
"In
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=inDepthNews&storyid=2007-10-17T003025Z_01_L20797239_RTRUKOC_0_US-VODKA-FRANCE.xml
14.
The Associated
Press
October 18,
2007
City officials say they'd rather
raise the alcohol tax than make cuts in the budget.
If approved, the tax hike proposed
by Mayor Steve Thompson would cancel out at least one third of the shortfall.
The plan would increase the tax on
alcoholic drinks, beer, wine and liquor from 5 percent to 10 percent in the
city.
It would apply to restaurants,
general stores, bars and liquor stores that sell alcohol inside the city limits.
The tax exempts wholesale sales.
Representatives from the hospitality
industry object to the plan, saying it will cut into their bottom lines.
Thompson argues that the Fairbanks
Police Department's workload revolves largely around alcohol-related problems.
The proposal comes two weeks after
voters permanently capped property tax rates inside the city, lowering city
revenues.
http://www.ktva.com/alaska/ci_7215468
III.
15.
Group Targets
21-Only
Abby
The Daily
Iowan
October 12,
2007
An impassioned seven students from
the UI Student Health Initiative Task Force presented different strategies
designed to increase student voter registration for the 21-ordinance vote on
Nov. 6 at the UI Main Library Thursday night.
If passed, the citywide 21-ordinance
would make it illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to be in a bar after 10
p.m.
"Early voting is huge," said Atul
Nakhasi, a co-founder of the task force and the UI Democrats'
president.
"It takes away the confusion of the
event," said task force director Matt Pfaltzgraf, noting that it allows students
to register and to cast a vote simultaneously.
Satellite-voting locations have been
set up in Hillcrest, Burge, Mayflower, the IMU, and the Main
Library.
In the last city election, only 700
of 30,000 students placed votes - compared with 14,000 nonstudents, according to
the task force. The panel hopes to change this.
UI senior Melissa Harmeyer, who has
lived in the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area all her life, was one of 40
representatives to attend the anti-21-ordinance
meeting.
"I don't want to see the downtown
ruined, and house parties are unsafe," she said.
UI sophomore Ryan Venem, who went to
the meeting to learn more about the issue, has the same reservations about the
21-ordinance.
"I have a bunch of friends who go to
the bars, and I go hang out with them," said Venem. "[The ordinance] will
scatter 20,000 kids into that community who can't be
policed."
The 21-ordinance meeting also
contended that throwing 19- and 20-year-olds out of the downtown scene will not
make for a safer city.
If the ordinance passed, they
argued, the effect would result in an increased number of house parties - which
have no bouncers or staff members to regulate disorderly behavior, no instant
gratification cab or "Night Ride" service. There would also be delayed response
from police officers in case of inebriated altercations, task-force members
said.
Many voiced concern over the
economic effect the 21-ordinance will have on
"The bars are kind of a vital part
of the city," said Sophie Switzer, a UI freshman originally from
Besides an increase in property
taxes and monthly rents, students and citizens would feel the backlash of the
21-ordinance in other ways. Around 1,500 students are employed downtown, and at
least half would become unemployed because of the ordinance, according to the
presentation.
The task force encourages all
students to register to vote so everyone can speak on the issue, especially
because the 21-ordinance has never been voted on by the public
before.
"We want students to choose to walk
out [of downtown], rather than be forced out," Pfaltzgraf said. "If they're
forced out, they'll go find another place to
drink."
Alcohol may have played a role in a
hayride wreck that injured 20 people in eastern
The wreck happened early Sunday
morning just outside
A tractor pulling a trailer went
over the side of a quarry. Two passengers were flown to nearby hospitals, and 18
other passengers suffered minor injuries.
Sheriff's deputies said they found
alcohol at the wreck scene but aren't sure if the tractor driver had consumed
any alcohol.
http://www.kcci.com/news/14351942/detail.html
21.
The
health consequences of smoking have long been known, and the public concern over
the hazards of second-hand smoke has led to businesses restricting the use of
tobacco products in buildings and on
properties.
Golden Triangle
Media
October 12, 2007
In an effort to work toward its
mission of advancing the health of individuals and its communities, HCHC will
implement a tobacco-free campus policy beginning Nov. 15, the date of the
American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout.
Since the 1980's, the hospital has
prohibited smoking within the facility but permitted smoking in designated areas
outside the facility. However, the new tobacco-free policy will prohibit the use
of all tobacco products on the HCHC campus both indoors and outdoors, including
all HCHC-owned properties and hospital vehicles.
"
"HCHC has joined hospitals across
HCHC is committed to promoting the
health, well being, and safety of patients, residents, visitors, volunteers,
medical staff, and associates, a news release said.
As a healthcare provider we must
take these steps to provide the healthiest environment possible."
HCHC realizes that this policy may
be difficult for people who smoke, and the Tobacco- Free Task Force is exploring
resources that can help smokers adhere to this new policy. We are committed to
promoting wellness and healthy lifestyles, and the public's cooperation with our
policy for a tobacco-free campus is appreciated.
Smoking Cessation helps smokers
breathe easy
Smoking has ill effects on the
health of smokers, their families, friends, and our environment, and for these
reasons HCHC is implementing a tobacco-free campus. HCHC's Cardiopulmonary
Department is actively working with smokers to help them break the tobacco habit
by offering smoking cessation classes.
There are numerous benefits to
quitting smoking. If you or someone you know smokes and wants to stop, call
385-6104 to learn more about HCHC's smoking cessation class, or call Quitline
Iowa, a toll-free, statewide smoking cessation telephone counseling hotline at
1-800-QUIT NOW (1-800-784-8669).
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18912334&BRD=1142&PAG=461&dept_id=567520&rfi=6
22. Filippo Gets Six Years in Prison
CHARLES
CITY --- A Cedar Falls man will spend up to six years in prison for trying to
run over a state trooper with a sport utility vehicle earlier this
year.
Josh
Nelson
Courier Staff
Writer
October 17,
2007
William Filippo Jr., 30, was
convicted of assaulting a peace officer with a weapon, eluding and
second-offense operating while intoxicated Aug. 31. Judge John Mackey made the
ruling after a trial on the minutes.
Filippo initially faced an attempted
murder charge.
"You endangered quite a few people
in this little episode you went on," Mackey said during the sentencing hearing
Tuesday.
Mackey suspended a $750 fine, but
said he couldn't suspend the $315 fine for eluding.
Authorities said Filippo tried to
run down trooper Mark Domino on Feb. 16. The incident occurred two miles south
of
Domino intentionally rammed his
patrol car into Filippo's Dodge
Court documents reveal Filippo had a
blood alcohol level of .207 and had cocaine and THC --- an indication of
marijuana --- in his system at the time of the
incident.
Mackey said Filippo gave Domino "no
choice but to shoot you" after acting as aggressively as he
did.
Trooper Mark Domino said in a
statement to the court the day this incident continues to haunt
him.
Prior to the shooting, Domino said
he was attending to usual affairs. He held a driver's education class at
Domino said he was on his way to New
Hampton when the call came in about an erratic driver near
Domino said he was afraid about what
would happen if the chase lasted much longer.
"I have been a trooper for 25 years,
and I have seen a lot of drunk drivers, but this was by far the worst," he
said.
The chase ended in a snow-filled
median.
The trooper defended his decision to
shoot.
"I had to use deadly force because
the driver was using deadly force against me, " Domino said. "Deadly force was
the only way I could get this driver stopped."
Nearly a dozen members of the Floyd
County Sheriff's Department and Iowa State Patrol were present during the
sentencing in an apparent show of support for
Domino.
Filippo's attorney Susan Flander
tried to paint a different picture of her client. She presented letters from
supporters and called Filippo's mother to the
stand.
Peggy Filippo of
"Is the person you've heard driving
the vehicle in February of this year the same person you know?" Flander
asked.
"No," Peggy Filippo
said.
Filippo joined the U.S. Air Force in
hopes of eventually joining the Philadelphia Fire Department. During his four
years of service, he changed his mind and decided to pursue a career in
education. At the time of the shooting, he had completed three years of
college.
Peggy Filippo said she wasn't sure
what happened to her son but was certain he had a substance abuse problem. She
said the damage he suffered from the event was "enough
punishment."
Flander called the incident "tragic"
but doesn't think all the blame rests solely on Filippo. She pointed to evidence
Domino also had a blood alcohol level of .037 that morning, which might have
impaired his judgment.
The amount of alcohol in Domino's
system was lower than the legal limit but high enough that the Iowa State Patrol
disciplined the trooper in September.
"Decisions were made that were bad
all the way around," Flander said.
Flander successfully lobbied Mackey
to set aside the operating while intoxicated conviction in a separate hearing
prior to the sentencing. The defense attorney successfully argued his conviction
on that charge was improper because Filippo was never arraigned for that alleged
offense.
Filippo said he was thankful to be
alive, though he lost an eye in the incident.
He said he realized he made the
wrong decisions that day, including the decision to use alcohol. He said he
hoped to use his experience to help others facing problems with substance
abuse.
"I apologize to the court and
everyone involved," Filippo said. "This was an isolated incident. I'm very
disgusted and ashamed of myself."
Terry McCoy
The
October 16,
2007
Teacher
Chuck Tonelli speaks with Michelle Corley about her journal entry during a
quit smoking class at Metro High School in Cedar
Rapids |
It's a Monday morning. Eleven
bleary-eyed students shuffle into Room 213 at
``Here's your candy!''
instructor Debra Jacque twitters while placing a bowl brimming with hard candy
on the table. Half the high schoolers stand and hastily begin rifling through
the treats.
At this class, where students who smoke learn how to drop
their habit, hard candy's as essential as pen and paper.
The course was
added in the
Another effect: Some
staffers are quitting entirely.
Dave Dvorak, the manager of the school
district's buildings and grounds, tore through a pack of cigarettes a day for
more than 34 years. A few months ago, he smoked his last.
``I wanted to
quit,'' he said. ``Most smokers want to. But it's a tough thing to do. It's very
hard, and I don't think I would have had the ambition to do it'' without the
ban.
Nowhere else is the smoking ban felt more than at Metro, an
alternative high school where 73 percent of the student body said last year they
use tobacco products and -- before the ban -- student and instructor alike would
sometimes take the school's daily, 10-minute smoke breaks
together.
Student smoking on campus already was forbidden at the other
three high schools. There, if caught, school officials would call police and the
student would be issued a $50 citation for a first offense.
The
``I wasn't so sure this
would work here though,'' said Bonnie Sovern, who has taught at Metro for 17
years. ``Smoking was one of the impetuses for students to come here, and I was
worried about students not coming back.''
But they did, Metro Principal
Kathy Green said. Week to week, nearly 70 percent of the student body populates
the building, which is right on track with last year, according to attendance
records.
Whether they stay for the whole day or not is a different story,
some Metro students say.
Metro senior Alex Powers said some students
usually check in at morning and then skip the last hour of class to
smoke.
``By the end of the day, people aren't here anymore,'' he
said.
Powers, who said he used to smoke up to a carton of cigarettes a
week, said he's one of the ones using the ban as a reason to quit.
``My
older sister always smoked, and I thought they were so cool,'' he said. ``But
then smoking became too expensive. And now I can't even skateboard, or really do
anything, without being out of breath.''
But quitting smoking is a
monumental task and not one without slipups. Less than an hour after Powers was
interviewed, he was outside, on school grounds, with a cigarette at his
lips.
The students he was with said they were ignoring the
ban.
``Every day I come out here and smoke,'' Metro senior Miranda O'Hara
said. ``What are they going to do, kick me out?''
Regardless,
administrator Laurel Day, a member of the district's tobacco-free committee,
said most students and staff are following the new rule.
``I would say it
has absolutely been a success based on the positive response,'' Day said. ``I
think people are pleased and have positively accepted it, if not applauded
it.''
Laura Daman, coordinator of
the Metro Wellness Program, said the district may institute smoking cessation
classes for staffers if enough employees ask for the course.
District
employees could be fired if they are caught smoking on school grounds, Day
said.
``But this is not a contrary issue,'' she said. ``Many staffers
hopped on board and were ready to implement it.''
Even at Kingston
Stadium where people have sucked on cigarettes behind the bleachers for years,
the habit has mostly been sidelined.
``The school district has done a
good job,'' said Jeff Smith, who was working security at the high school
football game at
Except 18-year-old Tony Meis, who had a cigar furtively tucked
behind his right ear. He still considers breaking the ban at football
games.
``The main point is: Who's going to stop me?'' he said while
sitting in the bleachers last Thursday. ``What's the big deal? I don't think
anyone would ever kick me out.''
Back at Metro, some teachers are saying
kicking the smoking habit is only the beginning. Their ultimate goal: defeating
addiction of any kind.
``Our minds are so powerful,'' Metro teacher
Jacque said. ``And if that's what we want to do, it will happen.''
http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071016/NEWS/71016027/1006/NEWS
IV. OTHER STATE
NEWS
24.
Vote Slated for
Sunday Liquor Sales (
Sheffield
Restaurants and motels could begin selling alcohol Sunday if city council
members approve a change to the city's liquor ordinance during tonight's council
meeting.
Times
Daily
October 14,
2007
The revisions are a
result of a Sept. 25 referendum in which
The new ordinance
allows the sale of alcohol on Sundays for on-premise consumption
only.
The sale of alcohol
for off-premise consumption is still prohibited, but its sale is allowed at
certain retail establishments as late as 2 a.m. Sunday.
Sheffield is the first
"If we approve it ...
it will take effect immediately," Mayor Billy Don Anderson said.
City attorney Vince
McAlister said the council must change the city's alcohol ordinance to reflect
the results of the referendum.
Anderson said Sunday
alcohol sales is an economic issue that should help level the playing field
between Sheffield and other Shoals cities, especially
Florence.
Sheffield residents
supported Sunday sales during a 2005 countywide referendum that was defeated
elsewhere in
It appears unlikely
that other
Muscle Shoals Mayor
David Bradford said 70 percent of the residents of his city who voted in the
2005 referendum opposed Sunday sales.
"I think the majority
of folks in Muscle Shoals spoke,"
Tuscumbia Mayor Bill
Shoemaker said no group has approached him on the issue.
"It's not as big a
deal for us as it would be for some of the larger hotels that must have (Sunday
sales) to attract big conventions," Shoemaker said. "I don't see that issue
coming up any time soon."
Erin Lebischak was at
the Old Town Tavern in downtown
"It will definitely be
good for business," she said.
She thinks
The state
Legislature approved a bill earlier this year allowing draft beer sales in the
city of
http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20071015/NEWS/710150323/1011
25. Few Stores Sampling
Wine-Law Prospects (
Stacy
Hudson
October 15,
2007
Since
March 29, retail groceries and mom-and-pop convenience stores have been able to
sell out-of-state wines, but few have taken advantage of a new state law
allowing them to do so. Some simply lack the space. Others worry about the
future of the law, still being challenged in court.
Harvest
Foods has 14 permits from the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Administration
Division to sell "small farm" out-of-state wines, but only offers such wines in
seven stores, said Chad Evans, director of retail operations for Little
Rock-based Supermarket Investors, which operates several regional chains
including Harvest Foods.
The
supermarket began selling out-of-state wines a few weeks ago and plans to
eventually sell them in all 14 of its stores in Arkansas that have permits to
carry wine, Evans said. Harvest Foods' other nine stores are in dry counties and
can't sell alcohol, he added.
Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. holds 18 retail wine permits from the state agency and The Kroger
The
The state
Alcoholic Beverage Control Board does not keep up with how many stores that hold
permits actually sell outof-state wines. Convenience and grocery stores "could
still be selling only Arkansas wines," Marilyn Hawley, an administrative
assistant for the state agency, said recently, adding that she wasn't sure how
many new permits had been issued since the law took effect. Since July 1, 14
wineries from
LACK OF
SHELF SPACE Stan Hastings, president of Moon Distributors Inc. and Central
Distributors Inc., both of
"At this
point, there's no real 'up' side for them,"
The new
law is confusing at best, not to mention that it's being challenged in court,
and many small wineries don't want to go through the 60- to 90-day licensing
process with the Alcoholic Beverage Control Administration Division if the law's
future is uncertain, he said.
In June
2005,
In July,
Judge Susan Webber Wright of U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of
Arkansas allowed Beau's attorneys to file a new complaint addressing what they
say is unconstitutional discrimination created by the new law.
Beau's
attorneys say the new legislation allows
http://www.arkansas.newsperspective.us/
26.
Susan Cagann
FBM.Com
October 11, 2007
New
Beer Franchise Law
This week, Governor Schwarzenegger
signed new legislation expanding the rights of beer wholesalers in the event of
a supplier's change in control, sale of a brand or other transition. Under
Senate Bill 574, section 25000.2 is added to the Business and Professions Code;
this statute compels a successor beer manufacturer to compensate a beer
wholesaler if the distribution relationship is terminated.
The new law requires the successor
manufacturer to pay fair market value for the terminated "distribution right".
The value is to be negotiated by the parties. If the parties cannot reach
agreement on the fair market value of the distribution right, mandatory
arbitration is required. A dissatisfied party may appeal the arbitration award
to the superior court. Until an agreement is reached or a result is compelled by
an arbitrator or court, the successor supplier is required to continue the
relationship with the beer wholesaler.
A
Case to Watch: Wine Distribution
Litigants are wrapping up a trial in
a case challenging well settled
In the Varni case, there was no
written distribution agreement. The Court found that the parties' conduct
evidenced a distribution agreement. The Court allowed evidence of trade customs
to supply terms of the implied contract so long as they were consistent with the
parties' conduct. As there was no agreement as to the duration of the
distribution relationship, the Court held that the contract was of indefinite
duration, terminable at the will by either party. In reaching this conclusion,
the Court was persuaded by evidence of industry custom that wine distribution
arrangements were terminable for any reason and not just for good cause. The
Court held that Wine World was free to terminate the implied contract with
Varni.
In the current litigation as in the
Varni case, Phillips Farms had no written distribution contract with Frank-Lin.
The relationship began in 2002. The winery provided reasonable notice of
termination to the distributor. Frank-Lin asserts the relationship cannot be
terminated absent good cause. And, the distributor is demanding a hefty penalty
for termination.
Closing arguments in the case could
begin before this week ends. The decision in this case could alter long standing
practices in wine distribution relationships. If the distributor is successful,
many wineries should reevaluate whether to require written contracts with their
distributors or if they already have written agreements, to assess the terms in
light of a distributor victory.
http://www.fbm.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/publications.home/publications.cfm
27.
Bar Liability Bill Debated;
Accident Victim Could Sue Business for Serving Alcohol
(
Legislation
aimed at holding bars and restaurants liable for serving intoxicated individuals
alcohol has been introduced in the state Senate for another
go-round.
October 13, 2007
Under Senate Bill 173, bar and
restaurant owners would be held liable if their establishment “intentionally or
recklessly” served an alcoholic drink to an intoxicated person and that person
injured or killed someone.
“
A court would have to find that the
bar or restaurant acted recklessly and knowingly served an intoxicated person
for the bar to be found liable.
State law already prohibits serving
the intoxicated, but judges have ruled that accident victims cannot sue the
establishments because no provision exists in state law holding the businesses
accountable.
Damages would be capped at $250,000.
The bill would not impact residents hosting private parties at their homes.
Sen. Peterson said the measure is
one of, if not the most effective way to curb drunk driving.
“There will definitely be an effect
because the people who are policing would be the employees themselves and they
know they could be responsible for it,” said Sen. eterson, who added that
studies suggest alcohol-related traffic deaths would drop 10 percent.
“The (Division of Alcoholic Beverage
Control and Tobacco Enforcement) doesn’t have enough staff to put one person in
every bar every night.”
Sen. Peterson said she introduced
the bill in response to a 2001 incident in which a drunken driver killed four
youths in
The driver, whose blood-alcohol
content was two-and-half times higher than the legal limit, had been drinking
for seven hours at a
An identical bill passed the Senate
in 2003 but died in a House of Representatives
committee.
Sen. Peterson said the key to her
legislation is that the bartender or server would have to know that the person
is intoxicated.
Bars and restaurants have said they
are concerned that the bill would increase their liability insurance rates to
untenable rates.
“This will affect small businesses
more than anything else,” said
“Premiums for general liability are
set on nationwide experience. We’ve never had a claim against us and our fire
and liability premiums have quadrupled in the last four
years.
“Ultimately, the cost will be passed
down to the consumer. The hardest part of dramshop laws is creating
responsibility on the part of the employee to determine who is intoxicated.
“You’re going to have a 21-year-old
person serving in a bar and if they make the wrong decision, the business owner
is going to get sued.”
Mr. Howard said his fire and
liability premiums are about $14,000 a year and he believes those premiums would
increase significantly if the dramshop legislation passes, and there would be no
noticeable difference in alcohol-related crashes.
During the debates for the previous
incarnation of the bill, the Delaware Restaurant Association argued that
insurance premiums that cost $500 a year could skyrocket to $10,000 annually.
DRA President Carrie Leishman did
not return several calls seeking comment Friday.
Sen. Peterson said research shows
that insurance liability would increase by only 25 percent, with the $250,000
cap designed to keep premiums down.
“This is a way to get more
enforcement people in every bar and restaurant,” she said. “It will be the
employees self-policing.”
SB 173 has been assigned to the
Senate Administrative Services Committee, which Sen. Peterson chairs. She hopes
to have a hearing and vote on the bill when the legislature reconvenes in
January.
28.
Legislative Proposal Would Raise
Tobacco Tax (
Smokers
fume at plan to increase price by 50 cents
Sophia
October 17,
2007
Buying
cigarettes in the state could soon become more
expensive
The Kansas Health Policy Authority
Board wants a 50 cent per pack increase in the tax on cigarettes to fund health
programs. Watch
The cost of cigarettes will rise
like smoke if federal and state officials have their
way.
Kansas Health Policy Authority board
on Tuesday approved its recommendations for the upcoming legislative session,
and increasing the tobacco tax was on the list. The move comes as federal
lawmakers wrestle over a plan to raise the federal tax on cigarettes by 61 cents
a pack.
The local response Tuesday was
predictable, with many smokers voicing their disapproval and some nonsmokers
standing in support of the measures.
“I think the whole sin tax thing is
completely ridiculous,” said Jim Pickard, a
The authority proposes raising $52
million annually by increasing the state cigarette tax by 50 cents a pack, to
$1.29. The revenue would support health care initiatives and, it is hoped,
discourage smoking.
The federal tax is part of a plan
for a five-year, $35 billion increase for the State Children’s Health Insurance
Program, which provides low-cost health coverage to qualifying children. But
President Bush has vetoed the bill and attempts to override the veto are
expected to fail. Votes are scheduled for Thursday.
Hiking the price of cigarettes won’t
discourage Pickard, who said he has watched the price steadily grow from about
$1 when he first started smoking to more than $4
today.
“I have no interest in quitting,” he
said.
But to some nonsmokers, the rising
costs are a welcome way to curb others’ bad habits.
“The more money they have to spend,
the more they’re going to quit because they can’t afford it,” said Juliana
Norris, a
While some smokers say they’ll keep
puffing regardless of cost, some say it’s getting to the point where it might be
time to change.
“If they get up to five bucks a
pack, I’m going to have to quit,”
Tax increase or not, business won’t
change at the BP convenience store at Haskell Avenue and 19th Street, where
cigarettes move like hotcakes.
Faisal Absar, the store’s manager,
predicted raising the tax won’t dampen sales.
“People will still smoke,” he
said.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/oct/17/legislative_proposal_would_raise_tobacco_tax/
29.
Harvard Students Keep Beer
Flowing, Defying New Alcohol Policy (
Bloomberg.com
October 15,
2007
After the nation's oldest and
richest school said it will no longer release money for private parties, the
Harvard Undergraduate Council continued to mete out grants of $100 or more that
can be spent on alcohol, according to that body's president. The school hasn't
stopped any parties, hoping the standoff can be ended through talks, Associate
Dean Judith A. Kidd said on Oct. 11.
At Cambridge, Massachusetts-based
Harvard, ``the fact that the school was actually paying for unsupervised
drinking is simply stupid and shouldn't have been happening in the first
place,'' said David Rosenbloom, 63, the principal investigator of the federally
funded Youth Alcohol Prevention Center at Boston University's School of Public
Health. ``Kids have far too easy access to alcohol as it is, and they didn't
need their university's help to get it.''
Rosenbloom said more schools are
moving away from a ``total hands-off view toward student drinking.''
Harvard's Undergraduate Council, or
UC, said it provided the private-party grants from funds remaining in its
account. The council president, Ryan Petersen, a 21-year-old senior, said the
university shouldn't have any say in the matter.
``That money is our money,''
Petersen said in a telephone interview on Oct. 11. ``The allocation of funds is
completely the decision of the Undergraduate Council.''
The use of such money for private
parties began in 2003, when Harvard administrators and students sought to
improve social life at the school. Last spring, the university opened a campus
pub, the Cambridge Queen's Head.
David Pilbeam, who became the
interim dean of
``It is quite apparent that the UC
Party Grant program, in practice, has funded parties where the focus is on
drinking,'' Pilbeam wrote in a letter to the council leaders, posted on
``The UC Party Grant program is at
odds with the message that students, parents, faculty and administrative leaders
of this community should be sending about responsible and safe alcohol use.''
A 2002 study published in the
Journal of Studies on Alcohol found that 31 percent of college students met
criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse during the previous year. The study
was based on questionnaires answered by students.
Liability also played a role in
Harvard's decision to cut off funding for private parties, Kidd said.
``The legal climate is changing out
there,'' she said. ``We collect and distribute the money. Therefore we are
responsible for making sure it is used appropriately.''
Petersen said he proposed to
administrators that an arbitrator be hired to resolve the dispute.
``Until the Undergraduate Council
decides the program has to be eliminated, the program will remain in effect,''
Petersen said.
The money for private parties comes
from an optional $75 activity fee for each student that raises about $450,000 a
year. Kidd said the UC gives $51,000 annually for private parties. Petersen said
the amount is lower, about $30,000 a year.
Students apply to the council for
the grants. To qualify for the money, the students must affirm they are 21 or
older and promise to obey school rules and local, state and federal laws,
Petersen said.
The council also requires that the
parties be advertised. Faculty members who live in the dormitories are notified
of the parties and have the authority to supervise them, Petersen said.
Generally, the private parties
aren't supervised by university employees, Kidd said. Faculty members who live
in the dormitories complained that the events often draw more students than can
be accommodated in a dormitory suite, Kidd said.
``They are spilling out into the
hallways,'' Kidd said. ``We all agreed there was no control possible, so we were
going to eliminate the program.''
Harvard will continue to pay for
alcohol purchases at events hosted by student organizations and dormitory
committees, Kidd said. Those parties are held in larger spaces and supervised by
graduate students hired and trained by the university, she said.
One columnist for the Harvard
Crimson, the student newspaper, supported the university's decision to cut off
funding.
``Broadly, this whole affair speaks
to the larger problem of the overblown sense of entitlement among
undergraduates,'' wrote Lucy Caldwell, who plans to graduate in 2009, in the
Oct. 8 edition. ``It is disheartening that Harvard students are so intent on
bickering over bucks for booze.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=auRyv5aAsxA0&refer=us
30.
Tobacco Sellers Must Now be
Certified (
Sellers
of tobacco and alcohol products in
Denise Poss
The
October 17th 2007
The city ordinances governing sales
of alcohol and tobacco are now complete. Anyone selling alcohol or tobacco
products in
The North Platte City Council
Tuesday passed an ordinance on the third and final reading that requires anyone
selling tobacco products in the city limits to first be certified by the
Responsible Server Training Program offered by the
police.
In September, the council approved a
similar ordinance for alcohol servers.
The ordinance affects store clerks,
bartenders, waiters and any other person who sells alcohol or tobacco products
in
They are now required to take the
1-1/2 hour program called the Responsible Server Training
Program
The new ordinance makes the server’s
certification good for three years..
The program is designed to educate
employees serving alcohol to ensure booze and tobacco is kept out of the hands
of minors, according to Martin Gutschenritter, North Platte Chief of Police.
Gutschenritter said
Gutschenritter said minors in
possession of alcohol and tobacco remains a serious problem in the community. He
said classes will be offered frequently and a various times so they would be
available to all working people.
In other business the
council:
• Accepted bids and awarded a
contract to Wells Fargo Bank for the lease/purchase four refuse transfer
trailers from Travis Body and Trailer Inc., of
• Postponed the approval of a lease
agreement with Masek Golf Car Company for 36 golf carts. The proposed lease
payments will be $3,840.00 per month for six months a year. Previous lease
payments were $3,536.00 per month for six months. A memo to the council from
Iron Eagle Golf Course manager Brad Kai said the cost to replace one set of
batteries in a cart was $660.00 and the cost to replace a single speed
controller was $800.00. He said at those costs it would not take long to make up
the $1,824.00 difference in lease payments. The problem with the agreement is
that it wasn’t able to make it out of committee since there was not a quorum of
members present. The council postponed the vote until the committee could
consider the leases.
• Approved a renewal of a lease
agreement between Regional Recycling and the city for use of the city’s baler
and for receiving and brokering recyclables.
• Set an assessment schedule for a
water extension district, a sanitary sewer district and a paving district for
the Iron Eagle Second Replat at
• Approved an application by Butch’s
Inc. of Hershey for a special designated liquor permit Dec. 1, 2007, from 8 a.m.
to 1 a.m. at the
http://www.northplattebulletin.com/index.asp?show=news&action=readStory&storyID=13204&pageID=3
31.
Tough Enforcement of N.H. Liquor
Laws will pay Off (
Getting
tough is paying off.
Fosters.com
October 12, 2007
Things began to change when Eddie
Edwards took over as chief enforcement officer for the New Hampshire Liquor
Commission two years ago. In Edwards' first year on the job, the number of
liquor license suspensions soared — nearly quadrupling as they jumped from 40 to
151.
The message was heard. In Edwards'
second year, the suspensions were down to 91. Edwards' policy had paid
off.
We trust it will continue to do so
and the number of violations will drop further.
The liquor commission has given
Edwards the tools with which to work. Fines for selling to underage patrons and
customers have been doubled, and license suspensions have been given
teeth.
For years, the enforcement bureau
did little more than run stings and visit bars and
restaurants.
Liquor law violations have been too
common over the years. It's been as if a mindset was present to run a sting
every now and then, but do nothing that might interfere with
sales.
The sale of beer, wine and spirits
represents a large chunk of change in the state's unrestricted revenue box. At
the same time, the sale of alcoholic beverages has to be closely monitored to
ensure compliance with the law.
A recent Associated Press story with
information gathered by the New Hampshire Union Leader pointed out that the
crackdown on violators has been effective, particularly in
"The violations are pretty scary,"
Sandy Rozek, director of wine and spirits for The Common Man group, was quoted
as saying.
Edwards isn't out to frighten the
owners of businesses that sell alcoholic beverages. What he is out to do is see
that the law is followed — that there's a reduction in the sale of alcoholic
beverages to underage customers, that the law regulating their sale in bars,
clubs and restaurants is observed and that sales to visibly intoxicated persons
are curtailed.
Edwards says he does not play
favorites, and when he hears of club owners comparing violations among
themselves, he knows the bureau he heads is being effective.
Edwards doesn't drink, but he's seen
what alcohol abuse can do. He describes living in a housing project with his
grandmother as a teenager and watching a man beat his wife in the street while
onlookers ignored the woman's cries for help.
"That's what happens in communities
when you tolerate (alcohol)," Edwards is reported as
saying.
Few people advocate a return to
prohibition — a failed experiment of the 1920s. What reasonable people do expect
is responsible regulation coupled with a marketplace that recognizes it has a
role to play in that regulation.
Yes, toss down a drink before or
with dinner. Enjoy a drink at a social gathering if it adds to your evening, but
as many of the alcoholic beverage producers and distributors say, "Please drink
responsibly."
There's a special responsibility on
the retailers of beer, wine and spirits — one that says they and the people they
employ must obey the state's liquor laws.
Pat Russell, one of the three
members of the liquor commission, is quoted as saying, "There's more bars, more
drinking. We have to be more vigilant, and Eddie is very
vigilant."
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071012/FOSTERS05/710120106
32.
Liquor Enforcement Shuts Down
'Party Bus' (
State
Liquor Enforcement Chief Eddie Edwards says a bus offering free rides and
alcohol is against the law, however good its intentions may have
been.
Fosters.com
October 14, 2007
The New Hampshire Liquor Commission
has ordered the "Portsmouth Party Bus" to stop serving
alcohol.
The bus has been in operation for a
month and offered free rides to
Students, during the ride, were
allowed to drink free alcohol provided by Chris Pleshaw, owner of the bus,
before they were dropped off at Libby's, according to
Edwards.
He said he investigated the bus and
it's illegal to serve the free drinks on the bus because the transportation of
open containers of alcohol is illegal.
Also illegal was a raffle conducted
by the bus offering a $5 bar tab at Libby's, which Edwards says violated the
state happy hour law.
"I simply explained the law to the
operation and licensee, and they were unaware of the restrictions and have
agreed to cease activity," Edwards said.
He said there would be no action
taken against the bus or Libby's.
"Education is the action; it's our
job to educate about the law, and that's the action we chose to take," he
said.
A different approach will be taken
for any repeat violation, Edwards said.
The bus is allowed to continue
providing rides to students, minus the alcohol.
"It appears his intentions were to
provide safe rides to the establishment. However, providing alcohol was the
issue," Edwards said. "Anything that improves public safety is certainly a wise
choice, but activity providing free drinks is not
wise."
Pleshaw could not be reached for
comment on Saturday.
The
The bus is equipped with leather
couches, plasma TVs at the front and rear, a stereo with iPod connectivity, a
mini-refrigerator and strings of soft lights lining the ceiling, according to
the article.
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071014/FOSTERS01/710140069
33.
Alcoholic Beverage Control in NC:
ABC System Seen as Wasteful (
Charlotte
Observer
October 14,
2007
In coastal
It's a unique system of local
control that creates needless bureaucracy, breeds inefficiency and wastes money,
its critics say. Some state leaders and veterans of the system contend that as
long as
State
ABC Commission Chair Doug Fox wrote Gov. Mike Easley in August seeking support
for three major legislative changes in the liquor system:
• The state board would have more
power to require mergers, primarily among neighboring ABC boards that are
struggling financially but refuse to combine operations.
• The state board would have more
authority over local store operations, such as the design and hours of stores,
to help create the uniformity and consistent service that customers
expect.
• A community would have to collect
5,000 signatures, instead of the current 500, to put creation of a new local ABC
board to a public vote.
"In little Town A and little Town B,
they're competing for the same customer," Fox said. "You're going to have two
systems that are probably going to be inefficient."
Easley, a Democrat, said Fox's
proposals make good business sense, and Easley wants to examine whether he can
implement any of them through executive orders.
"Most of these things (Fox)
recommends are just bringing this into the 20th, much less the 21st, century,"
Easley said.
Local boards defend the fragmented
system by emphasizing that it still makes tens of millions for the state and
communities while giving communities more decision-making ability on liquor
issues than under a centralized or privately run liquor system.
Most
other states, including
Some unprofitable or marginally
profitable jurisdictions in
Multiple boards increase expenses,
say state officials. The 538 locally appointed board members across
That alone costs more than $320,000
a year. And once a year, board members spend money on conferences at pricey
locations. A July conference at the Grove Park Inn in
Beyond the individual members'
expenses, the local board system generates duplicative efforts and costs in
warehousing, management salaries, audits and accounting, said Larry Beck,
executive director of the Gastonia ABC Board, which operates five stores. Each
board does its own annual audit at $3,000 to $5,000 apiece.
"The more boards we create, we're
being redundant in offering the same product and service, but we're adding
overhead to it," Beck said.
The four other ABC boards in
The ABC boards in Seven Devils,
Banner Elk and
Expenses dropped from $331,000 among
the three stores in 1998 to $145,000 in the first year of the merger. Profits
rocketed from a pre-merger, collective total of $98,000 to $247,000 for the
merged store.
"The system needs changing," said
state ABC commissioner Mike Joyner of
The ABC boards in the state's larger
urban areas, such as
The glut of local boards in small
towns sometimes translates into a lack of management expertise.
Last summer the state ABC Commission
wrote local ABC boards in the 50 smallest jurisdictions after several cases of
embezzlement or theft. The letter suggested the boards were failing to
sufficiently watch over their stores.
"Situations continue to arise where
a manager abuses that trust (of the local board) and breaks the law," wrote
Laurie Lee, director of audits and pricing at the state commission, on Aug. 28.
Resistance
at local level
"I know that everybody wants to keep
their own store for themselves," said Sara Brewer, manager of the Banner Elk
store before and after their merger. "But having been on both sides of it, I
think they can learn a great lesson from this. ... Some of the smaller stores
that could merge together should seriously look at it."Consolidation is
something that legislative leaders and candidates for governor say they are
willing to consider, but local boards and local officials would mostly oppose
it.
The system is a product of the
state's history of wanting decisions made as closely as possible to the people,
said Fox, the state chairman.
Some legislative leaders expressed
interest in re-examining the ABC system, including Senate President Pro Tem Marc
Basnight, a Democrat from
Proponents
tout profits
The state commission, composed of
three members, runs a central liquor warehouse and sets statewide prices but
doesn't operate stores. It can offer help to local boards, but can only
intervene when there are major problems.
Officials of local boards defend the
system, pointing out rising sales and multimillion-dollar
profits.
ABC sales rose 8 percent, to $650
million, in the fiscal year that ended in June. That put $168 million in the
state's general fund through taxes and $40 million in localities' bank accounts
from net profits.
"Throughout the system,
Board members boast of the big
checks they write to their town or county that pay for parks or firetrucks. The
Catawba County ABC board handed over $900,000 to that county last year.
But 32 boards, about one-fifth of
them, did not give a single dollar to local government last year, according to
state data. Some boards didn't make enough money, while some newer boards had
too many start-up bills to pay. The lack of contributions raises questions about
one of the board members' central arguments for their system -- that they return
money to their community.
Merger
more beneficial?
Mergers are still rare, despite
success in the Banner Elk area and another recent example near
When Bermuda Run, in
By merging, Bermuda Run's store
generated revenue for the town in the first year instead of several years later,
as is typical for stand-alone stores. The merger saved on staff, accounting
costs, insurance, store design and bulk purchasing power, said Sam Krause, the
town's representative on the Triad Board.
"It wasn't a difficult decision at
all," Krause said. "It was so much more advantageous from a financial
standpoint."
Still, boards almost never take that
step.
Sigmon said he doesn't want mergers
forced on anybody, but acknowledged they don't take place in some cases when it
seems logical.
"Rather than merge with Lincolnton,
(
http://www.charlotte.com/breaking_news/v-print/story/318252.html
34.
Tobacco-Free Campuses Improve
Health (
Peton Daily
News
October 19,
2007
A timely matter continues to present
itself to the North Dakota State College of Science campus. Many campuses in the
state of
North Dakota campuses that have gone
smoke-free include
As released by a North Dakota Core
Survey, 29.5 percent of current NDSCS students are smokers while the rate for
all other campuses in the state is 16.6 percent.Tobacco use is also the No. 1
preventable cause of death and disability in the
"Secondhand smoke is equally
dangerous," Bergstrand said.
Bergstrand emphasized that tobacco's
impact on health outweighs those of alcohol, motor vehicle accidents, homicides,
HIV and suicide. The number of people who die annually because of those issues
combined don't equal the deaths caused by tobacco use each
year.
"Although the consequences may not
be as immediate as drunk driving, it's a significant issue," Bergstrand
said.
The benefits of the NDSCS campus
moving to a tobacco-free campus are wide spread and would affect the whole
campus if the choice was made to adopt a tobacco-free
policy.
"Should we do it because everyone
else is doing it? Probably not," Bergstand said. "Should we do it because it's
the right thing to do? Yes."
Bergstrand said more often than not,
in driving by campus, students or others are standing outside smoking and "it
doesn't reflect very well on the community as a whole," he said. Benefits of
going to a tobacco-free campus include a cleaner and healthier campus, an
improved social and community reputation and "I'm almost positive you'll see a
less burden to your student health service," Bergstrand
said.
In addition, the campus would more
then likely see improved student health with increased class attendance and
better academic comprehension by the students.
Also, because many employers are
seeking workers who don't smoke, a campus that promotes no smoking would
ultimately provide more marketable students to enter the
workforce.
Going to a tobacco-free campus would
also benefit NDSCS because it would decrease the initiation to tobacco use and
most likely decrease tobacco consumption because it wouldn't be allowed anywhere
on the campus.
The last of the benefits Bergstrand
included, although there may be many more, was a no tobacco use policy would
cause less exposure to secondhand smoke.
The idea of a tobacco-free campus
continues to present itself but NDSCS has yet to officially adopt a
policy.
"I think your administration is in
favor of moving to a smoke-free campus, but they'd like to see it come from
underneath," Bergstrand said. If it would happen, Bergstrand said the NDSCS
administration would like to see students or faculty present the issue.
Weather
http://www.wahpetondailynews.com/articles/2007/10/18/news/news01.txt
35.
Changes in Law have hurt
Z wire
October 16, 2007
Voters popped the cork for
But the good times stopped when a
federal judge invalidated that law and the Oklahoma Legislature did not step in
to help.
Now
"We're back to where we were, where
you have to get your product distributed by a wholesaler," says Gary Butler,
president of the Oklahoma Wine Makers Association.
Judge Stephen Friot invalidated the
wine law in 2006 because it discriminated against out-of-state wineries, who are
not allowed to sell directly to liquor stores or restaurants in
But during the 2007 legislative
session, lawmakers, under intense lobbying from liquor wholesalers, declined to
enact any of several proposals to retain
The arguments of winery enthusiasts
were strong: homegrown economic development, a boost for tourism, another
important crop in an agriculture state.
Some winemakers even dreamed of a
"This is a good grape-growing
state," said Don Neal, who operates StapleRidge Winery at Stroud, between
36.
New US$2m Wine Research Institute
for
Panos
Kakaviatos
October 18,
2007
Although still in the planning
stages, the Oregon State University Wine Institute is expected to be operational
by autumn 2008. The bill is to be divided in two with
Patty Skinkis, a viticulturalist at
the University, said they were already looking to hire a director and 'new
positions in the institute'.
The institute's mandate wil be to
assist the
'I think it is a great opportunity
for this industry, long under the shadows of a much more mature
He added that Californian research,
often conducted by the University of California, Davis (UCD) or California State
Fresno, is 'not necessarily valid' with regard to Oregon varietals - mainly
Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris.
http://www.decanter.com/news/150361.html
37.
Seven Firms Vying for Liquor Sore
Deal (
Bill
Toland
October 18,
2007
Four
The contract will give the winner
carte blanche to overhaul the stores themselves, coming up with new signage and
logos, even rearranging the interior traffic flow and merchandise layouts,
according to the "request for proposals" (RFP) issued by the
board.
The agencies
are:
LevLane Advertising, Philadelphia;
Gyro Worldwide, Philadelphia; Pavone, Harrisburg; Neiman Group, Harrisburg;
Redscout LLC, New York City; G2, New York City, and Landor Associates, of San
Francisco. (Pavone already handles some public relations duties for the liquor
stores and the Pennsylvania Winery Association.)
The PLCB, which had $1.69 billion in
sales in the 2006-07 fiscal year, has seen increased sales during the past
decade, but believes it could perform better if its image were
streamlined.
38.
Smoking Ban Earns Broad Support (
71
Percent say cities should make rules for bars,
restaurants
Megan Myers
October 14,
2007
|
Wayne Jones owns
Waterhole No.1 on |
According to a citywide poll
conducted for the Argus Leader, 71 percent of people surveyed want the state to
allow local government to decide where smoking would be legal, while 21 percent
favor state control. Eight percent were undecided.
That's not news to many local
control advocates who feel cities should be able to
decide.
"Right now, nobody's got an option,"
said Yvonne Taylor, executive director of the South Dakota Municipal
League.
If local regulations were allowed by
the state, 59 percent of those surveyed said they would support a comprehensive
ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, while 37 percent would oppose such a
ban. Four percent were undecided.
"If that were to happen, and the
city would be able to make that decision, I think there'd be a strong push at
that point in time to go smoke-free," said Pat Costello, a
The scientific poll involved 625
registered voters in
The poll numbers bolster the
arguments of smoking foes who plan a push for some form of a smoking ban in the
2008 Legislature. Measures to further restrict smoking in public places have met
resistance in the Legislature each year since the state's 2002 law banning
smoking in nonhospitality workplaces went into
effect.
Opponents of an across-the-board ban
have long maintained that business owners should decide for themselves, and if
they choose to allow smoking and some customers don't like it, those customers
can eat or drink elsewhere.
"It's a legal product, and the
businesses should determine whether they want it or not," said Sen. Gene
Abdallah,
Those who favor a ban say medical
studies consistently show that second-hand smoke can cause lung cancer and a
range of other illnesses, and that employers who allow smoking expose their
workers to a potentially lethal health risk. They add that workers don't simply
have the option of walking away from their jobs.
"We know there's support across the
state for more smoke-free laws," said Jennifer Stalley, project director for the
South Dakota Tobacco-Free Kids Network and director of government relations for
the
Current
law
A new ban would expand
The law allowed exemptions for
sleeping rooms in motels, tobacco shops, video lottery casinos, Deadwood gaming
halls and places with on-sale liquor licenses.
Supporters of the 2002 law thought
it would limit tobacco to establishments restricted to people older than 21. But
some restaurants found ways around the ban by buying malt beverage licenses that
let them allow smoking while not actually selling
alcohol.
It's an issue that's been playing
across the country this decade.
Twenty-two states have passed
comprehensive indoor smoking bans, based largely on the principle that exposure
to secondhand smoke is dangerous.
A June 2006 U.S. Surgeon General's
report concluded that secondhand smoke can lead to lung cancer and heart disease
in nonsmoking adults and can cause sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory
problems, ear infections and asthma attacks in infants and
children.
Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand
smoke at home or work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25 to
30 percent and lung cancer by 20 to 30 percent, according to the
report.
Costello said as a city councilor in
"We think the more local the
decisions are made, the better," Costello said.
But he's also a bar owner and
restaurateur, and he fears the repercussions of having a hodgepodge of varying
smoking laws in the
For example, if
"Local control I'd like to see, but
to the extent that it's not consistent, it's problematic," he
said.
Republican Sen. Tom Hansen of Huron,
who sponsored last year's smoking ban legislation, sees that
point.
"I've had business owners and bar
owners tell me that they would sure appreciate it if someone would make that
decision so they wouldn't do something that would put them at a competitive
disadvantage," Hansen said.
"I don't know why (smoking) would be
any different,"
Mixed
views
Many other bar and restaurant owners
and their patrons are mixed on smoking bans and local
control.
Wayne Jones, owner of Waterhole No.
1 on Madison Avenue in
"Back when I took over, 75 to 80
percent of people were smokers," Jones said. "Now I guess it's about 20 percent,
or less than that."
Jones said he doesn't plan to hang
up a "no smoking" sign anytime soon; he uses an exhaust system that he says
filters out much of the smoke, and that's good enough for now. But he wouldn't
protest if a ban went into effect.
"If it comes to that, then I would
go along with it," Jones said. "But I still believe it's the choice of a person
to decide whether they want to go somewhere where there's going to be
smoking."
Connie Mogen of
"I understand the addiction; I used
to smoke myself," Mogen said. "But I think it shouldn't affect other
people.
"It's not like alcohol, where you
can all sit in the same place and drink and one person can decide not to drink
and isn't affected by the others," Mogen added.
But banning smoking in bars and
restaurants leads cities down a slippery slope, said Jay Cornwall of Arnold's
Park, Iowa, who regularly visits the Sioux Falls area to eat
lunch.
"If you start banning all that
stuff, what'll be next? Saying I can't eat a cheeseburger because it's bad for
me?"
"If you're in here, and the smoke
bothers you, I've got an idea -- leave."
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071014/NEWS/710140322/1001
39.
Group’s Place Value on Alcohol
Initiative (
John
Lowman
The
Facts.com
October 14,
2007
A pair of
Brazoria Residents to Advance
Community Economics, and Circle the Wagons — an unofficial group not registered
with the county elections office —are gearing up for the
fight.
“We are supporting this based on
economic issues to our community as well as
For every $1 in wine sales spent in
communities allowing such sale, a shopper buys an additional $3 in merchandise,
he said.
“If someone goes to a grocery store
in
Family, not money, should drive the
vote, said Larry Townsend, an
“There’s not a family in
“Money talks. It doesn’t always tell
the truth, but it always talks.”
The Brazoria County Local Option
Election would allow “the legal sale of beer and wine for off-premise
consumption only,” and “the legal sale of mixed beverages in restaurants by food
and beverage certificate holders only,” according to a sample ballot on the
county’s Web site.
A vote “For” will allow alcohol
sales. A vote “Against” denies the proposition. Each can be voted on separately.
Wine already is available in grocery
stores in some cities with beer available in all except Sweeny, which is dry. If
both pass, wine could be available in all grocery stores in Brazoria County and
not just liquor stores, and restaurants no longer would be forced to be “private
clubs” requiring memberships to sell mixed drinks, lead elections clerk Susan
Cloudt said.
Richwood was voted dry in 1967 with
beer allowed in 1968.
Proponents have pushed for a
countywide measure since that time, enlisting the aid of Texas Petition
Strategies, a collection of “veteran political consultants” who “help you with
your campaigning,” according to the Austin-based firm’s Web
site.
Repeated calls to Petition
Strategies consultant John Hatch were not returned.
A similar measure about 25 years ago
was defeated by a few dozen votes, Townsend said. The more alcohol available,
the more tempted will be someone prone to drinking, he
said.
“Many, many people have had to go to
AA or whatever to straighten out their lives, and if this passes, they can’t
even go to the drug store to buy Band-Aids without seeing it,” he said. “I can’t
just stand idly by and watch it go on without
trying.”
BRACE began their campaign in
earnest this weekend, delivering 300 small signs to
Townsend said opponents believe if
the current proposals pass, the same people advocating this vote will push for
hard liquor in all
“I’ve read the writing on the wall,”
he said. “When they get this thing passed, BRACE will turn around and make it
over liquor. They won’t be satisfied until they have a liquor store on every
corner in the name of prosperity and economic
development.”
That’s not the case, Bucek
said.
“We’re selling wine, and kids don’t
drink wine,” he said. “We’ve been able to buy beer in grocery stores since the
1930s. The only change is the addition of wine sales at
supermarkets.”
County commissioners will canvass
results Nov. 14, and any changes to the county’s liquor laws would be immediate
once retailers and restaurants get the proper permits, Cloudt
said.
“You might find wine available as a
selection in the grocery store,” she said. “Restaurants would be able to sell
mixed drinks without memberships. It would be countywide. Right now, it’s
piecemeal throughout the county.”
http://thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=a0e13bab6f79f0e2
40.
John
Hopkins
The
Virginian-Pilot
October 18, 2007
The two guards pleaded guilty
Tuesday in Chesapeake Circuit Court. Mijan Jemmott, 30, and Davis Morris, 48,
both of
Judge Frederick Creekmore sentenced
Jemmott to a 12-month suspended sentence for obstructing justice. Jemmott was
placed on six months of supervised probation.
Morris, charged with obstructing
justice and the unauthorized delivery to prisoners, was sentenced to 12 months
in prison on each charge. All but two months were suspended.
Morris is expected to serve his time
on weekends, starting Oct. 26.
Both men had been indicted for
felony bribery. Those charges were amended to misdemeanor obstruction of
justice.
The Virginia Department of
Corrections did not release information on the two guards' crimes and alleged
smuggling activity.
Larry Traylor, a prison spokesman,
said Jemmott had worked as a guard since March 25, 2004. Morris had worked there
since March 16, 1994. They were both terminated Feb. 27, 2006.
The prison, at
http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=134861&ran=8762